A report said that labour providers in the food and agriculture sector (including gangmasters) had to demonstrate that they were complying with the law - or they would lose contracts and risk prosecution under new licensing arrangements from 2006. It was produced by a consortium of retailers, food producers, growers and suppliers, and trade unions.
Source: A Licence to Operate: New measures to tackle exploitation of temporary workers in the UK agricultural industry, Temporary Labour Working Group, c/o Ethical Trading Initiative (020 7404 1463)
Links: Report (pdf) | ETI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
The government said that it agreed with a committee of MPs on the need to introduce secondary legislation as soon as possible in order to implement a new licensing scheme for gangmasters. It rejected the suggestion that its approach to tackling illegal activity by gangmasters had been characterized by a lack of urgency.
Source: Gangmasters (Follow up): Government reply to the Committee's report, Twelfth Special Report (Session 2003-04), HC 1035, House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2004-Sep
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the implementation in the United Kingdom of reform of the European Union common agricultural policy.
Source: Implementation of CAP Reform in the UK: Government reply to the committee's report, Tenth Special Report (Session 2003-04), HC 916, House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2004-Jul
The Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 received Royal assent. It established the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to set up and operate the licensing scheme for labour providers operating in the agriculture, shellfish gathering and associated sectors. Once the licensing arrangements were in place, the Act would prohibit anyone from acting as a gangmaster in the specified areas without a licence. It would also make it an offence for a person to enter into an arrangement with an unlicensed gangmaster.
Source: The Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | Defra press release
Date: 2004-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that it was concerned about the economic and environmental impacts of adopting the model chosen by the government for the new single farm payment (decoupled from production levels under reforms to the European Union Common Agricultural Policy). Further research was needed, and the policy might need to be altered if potential and actual distortions were considered sufficiently serious.
Source: Implementation of CAP Reform in the UK, Seventh Report (Session 2003-04), HC 226, House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Oxfam press release
Date: 2004-May
A report by a committee of MPs said that the government's response to a previous report on the problem of gangmasters had not been sufficiently urgent. In particular, it had failed to conduct research into the nature and extent of the problem of illegal gangmasters. Without such research it could not possibly say whether its policies and actions had been successful.
Source: Gangmasters (Follow up), Eighth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 455, House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2004-May
A private member's Bill designed to regulate the activities of gangmasters operating in the agricultural industry was given a third reading.
Source: Jim Sheridan MP, Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 21 May 2004, columns 1210-1243W, TSO Links: Text of Bill | Hansard
Date: 2004-May
The government gave qualified approval to the commercial development of genetically modified (GM) crops, following a series of reviews. It said that it would assess GM crops on a case-by-case basis, taking a precautionary and evidence-based approach, and making the protection of human health and the environment the top priority; provide choice for consumers through mandatory labelling of GM food products; and consult on measures to facilitate the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops, and on options to provide compensation to non-GM farmers who suffered a financial loss through no fault of their own. Environmental campaigners attacked the decision, saying that scientific evidence and public opinion had been ignored. The government also published its response to a report by a committee of MPs on the conduct of the public debate on GM crops: it described the debate as a qualified success, and said that it did not share the Committee's view that it was 'an opportunity missed'.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 9 March 2004, columns 1381-1396WS, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 9 March 2004, Friends of the Earth (020 7490 1555) | Conduct of the GM Public Debate: Government Reply to the Committee's Report, Fifth Special Report (Session 2003-04), HC 443, House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee
Links: Hansard | Defra press release | Response to MPs | FOE press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that the scope of trials of genetically modified crops was very narrow, and that the results could be regarded as adequate grounds for a decision to be taken in favour of commercialisation.
Source: GM Foods - Evaluating the Farm Scale Trials, Second Report (Session 2003-04), HC 90, House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | FOE press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Mar
The government announced the future shape of support for farmers in England under reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy. England would 'decouple' subsidies from production levels fully in 2005, and move towards a flat-rate single farm payment to farmers. Only farmers active in 2005 would qualify for payment. There would be an eight-year transition period to a flat rate. England would be split into two regions - land in the severely disadvantaged areas of the less favoured areas, and all other land in England: different flat rates would apply in these regions. English Nature called on the government to reaffirm its commitment to further reform that would deliver environmental benefits by moving money from the single farm payment into rural development and agri-environment schemes. Oxfam said the reforms would not end the injustice of the existing system: the richest farmers would continue to get the largest share of payments, and overproduction and the subsequent dumping of cheap subsidised food on poor countries would not stop.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 12 February 2004, columns 1585-1602, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 12 February 2004, English Nature (01733 455190) | Press release 12 February 2004, Oxfam GB (01865 311311)
Links: Hansard | Defra press release | English Nature press release | Countryside Agency press release | CPRE press release | Oxfam press release
Date: 2004-Feb
The government said that it would support a private member's Bill designed to prevent exploitation of workers by 'gangmasters'. This followed the death by drowning of 19 Chinese immigrant workers at Morecambe Bay, north west England. The Bill was subsequently given an unopposed second reading. Trade unions called for urgent new laws on corporate manslaughter.
Source: The Guardian, 10 February 2004 | Jim Sheridan MP, Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 27 February 2004, columns 515-577, TSO | Press release 20 February 2004, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Guardian report (1) | Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | HOC research briefing (pdf) | Guardian report (2) | TUC press release
Date: 2004-Feb
An independent mid-term evaluation was published of the impact of the English rural development programme on rural areas since its inception in 2000. The overall assessment was that a good start had been made in many areas, despite disruption caused by foot-and-mouth disease at the beginning of the programme. (The programme addresses two main priorities - the creation of a productive and sustainable rural economy, and the conservation and enhancement of the rural environment.)
Source: ADAS Consulting Limited and SQW Limited, The Mid-Term Evaluation of the England Rural Development Programme, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report (pdf links) | DEFRA press release
Date: 2004-Jan
A report said that rich landowners were making millions from a farm subsidy system that failed poor people. It recommended a 20,000 cap on the level of subsidy an individual farmer could receive; a redistribution of payments in favour of small farmers and the environment; and an end to those subsidies that encouraged overproduction and led to export dumping.
Source: Spotlight on Subsidies: Cereal injustice under the CAP in Britain, Oxfam GB (01865 311311)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary | Oxfam press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jan
A report looked at income levels among hill farmers in Derbyshire's Peak District, and at the impact of government policy on the quality of life of farming families. Farm incomes had fallen by 75 per cent between 1992 and 2002. Without subsidies, only dairy farms would achieve a positive income, generating an average income of just 4,622 per annum, with no allowance for paying farmer and family. Small beef and sheep farm farms would return minus 2,320, and larger farms minus 3,380 per annum.
Source: Hard Times: A research report into hill farming and farming families in the Peak District, Peak District Rural Deprivation Forum (01433 621822)
Links: Report (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jan
Total income from farming rose by 32 per cent in 2003 to 3.2 billion, compared to 2.5 billion in 2002, according to provisional statistics. Farmers' incomes were at their highest level since 1997, following the third annual increase in a row.
Source: Total Income from Farming in the UK in 2003, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (020 7238 6000)
Links: Report (pdf) | DEFRA press release
Date: 2004-Jan
A private member's Bill was introduced designed to regulate the activities of gangmasters operating in the agricultural industry.
Source: Jim Sheridan MP, Gangmaster (Licensing) Bill, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 7 January 2004, column 259, TSO
Links: Hansard | ePolitix report
Date: 2004-Jan